


Elemental

by sophinisba, zephrene



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Collaboration, Community: camelot_fleet, Fanart, Gen, Multi, Multimedia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-02
Updated: 2010-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-11 04:04:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophinisba/pseuds/sophinisba, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephrene/pseuds/zephrene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They bear their burdens, they struggle, they rely on each other.  Vaguely AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elemental

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Стихийное](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3322457) by [krasnoe_solnishko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/krasnoe_solnishko/pseuds/krasnoe_solnishko)



> Words by Sophinisba, art by Zephre, created for the first Artword challenge at [](http://camelot-fleet.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**camelot_fleet**](http://camelot-fleet.dreamwidth.org/).

**Water: Morgana**

Sometimes dreaming is like drowning.  
Sometimes it's easy like drifting on calm water  
Lying down to sleep is like casting off to sea.  
Sometimes it feels like freedom, letting the future flow where it will.  
To a faraway castle where a stranger touches her brow.  
To a cave where a sister holds her hand and looks her in the eye.  
Or back to her own bed, Gwen's warm body next to hers.  
Sometimes Morgana wants to spread slow and wide, like water under ground.  
Sometimes she wants to break like a storm.  
Someday she'll send her fury down like lightning.

**Fire: Gwen**

Strike while it's hot, and even steel will bend to your will.  
Speak at the right moment, and even the prince might listen.  
Love is like fire: useful.  
Gwen doesn't have her father's muscles, but she has his dedication, his timing, his care.  
He made armour; every day, she remakes it.  
This morning she wrapped her arms around Morgana and soothed the tangles from her hair.  
Today she's pounding the dents out of Arthur's shield.  
Later she'll help Merlin with Arthur's mail.  
They keep on fighting, but she keeps the links between them strong: even and equal, safe and close.

**Air: Arthur**

They all want to keep him safe – Merlin's the most reckless, but Gwen or Morgana could lose everything just as easily. In battle the knights surround him, do anything to protect him, and he wishes he could believe (as his father does) that his life is worthy of their sacrifice.

Arthur prefers the tournament, where everything's out in the open. It's that same thrill – leaping through the air, knowing precisely where and when to strike – without the agony of deciding what ground is safe to land on, which side is right or wrong, what secrets are hiding beneath the surface.

**Earth: Merlin**

There's magic down deep in the roots of rock.  
But Merlin's body lives up near the surface.  
Awkward and exposed, elbows and ears, nose and knees sticking out at odd angles.  
Always this power singing under his skin, always this truth wanting to break out.  
He'd like to surge and swell like waves, but all he's got is hard packed earth.  
Licking lips that are always dry, biting his tongue to keep back the hunger.  
It's lonely here, too quiet, too much empty space between him and the sky.  
He wants to share this secret like dry land wants rain.


End file.
